In the crowd.
Lin Chen's gaze was sharp. He took a step forward, causing the aunt to back up a few steps in fear.
"Lin Chen, you... what are you doing?"
"Aunt, why be scared? You're the elder, and as the nephew, how could I not understand the hierarchy of respect."
Lin Chen's words allowed the aunt to breathe a sigh of relief. "Since you know that, then..."
"Since Aunt has spoken to this point, then nephew also has some words I must say." Lin Chen's eyes swept over Grandfather Lin Chaoyang without a pause, as if this old man was now a stranger to him.
The loneliness on the old man's face only brought him satisfaction.
"Back then, when Lin Ming entered the Martial Arts Hall, the family provided two coins every month. Every ten or so days, Aunt, you would bring eggs and eels caught from home to the Martial Hall to nourish Lin Ming. In the six months that I entered the Martial Arts Hall, the family didn't give a single inquiry. Both of us are grandsons; why such discrimination?"
The aunt pursed her lips, wanting to defend herself but found no words, because what Lin Chen said was true.
"Supporting Lin Ming in martial arts was already difficult for the family, and the nephew also knew this, so I agreed with Grandfather that if I could pass the six-month academy assessment, the family would support my martial arts studies financially."
"Because of lack of money, I had no funds to eat meat in the Martial Hall and endured ridicule from other students. Gu Fei and two others from the village can testify to this."
"I barely passed the Martial Hall assessment, but how did Grandfather respond?"
Lin Chen's face wore a mocking expression. "Just a simple claim of no money and it's settled. My mother said she would borrow, but Grandfather disagreed. I truly thought it was because of worry about repaying, but it was about keeping the valuable land deed to borrow money for Lin Ming."
"Injustices before others, I can tolerate, but betrayal by family, I cannot accept."
"Such a Grandfather, how can I acknowledge from the night we divided the family, we are already two separate households."
Each word pierced the heart, each sentence was an accusation.
The aunt's face turned pale, not daring to meet Lin Chen's gaze.
The villagers at the scene looked at Lin Chen with sympathy. They knew Lin Chaoyang was biased, but didn't expect it to this extent.
Aren't they both grandsons?
If the young grandson has potential, he should be the one learning martial arts.
Seeing the villagers' sympathetic eyes, Lin Chen was not surprised. Part of the reason he spoke was that these words had been bottled up for so long, they had to be released.
The other half of the reason was to specifically say it for the villagers to hear, his family has no more ties with Grandfather, Lin Chen would not recognize this Grandfather.
Having practiced Essence Qi himself, if he didn't clarify, who knew if Grandfather and Aunt might secretly pull tricks behind the scenes using his name.
"If you don't want the ancestral land flowing outside, then bring out the land deed. Our family and Second Uncle's family can pool together the money. Or does Grandfather think this land only counts as not flowing outside if it stays with Aunt's family, but if with Second Uncle and my family, it does?"
Upon finishing, Lin Chen directly faced Grandfather Lin Chaoyang, wanting to see what decision this biased Grandfather would make at this stage.
Lin Chaoyang's lips moved a few times without sound. On the side, the village head couldn't help but say, "Chaoyang, Lin He and Lin Jiang are also your sons. Allocating land to them wouldn't count as the ancestral land flowing outside. Losing the land, how would you face the Lin ancestors in the future?"
At the end, even the village head's voice carried some weight.
Originally, Lin Chaoyang's bias and unfairness as a grandfather was a Lin family affair, and even as a village head, he felt it wasn't his place to intervene. But now it was different, since Lin Chen had cultivated Essence Qi, which was a good thing for the entire Linhu Village.
Lin Chen was about to go to the city to study martial arts, but for now, Lin Jiang and his wife were staying in the village. The few acres of barren land allocated to Lin Jiang hardly counted as property. After a few years, if Lin Chen achieved something in martial arts, they could move the entire family away.
Assigning those few acres of ancestral land to Lin Jiang would at least give them some ties.
"Let's split. As long as the debt is paid, the few acres of the eldest family will be divided between you two brothers."
In the end, Lin Chaoyang agreed. After speaking, the hunch upon his back seemed to collapse, entirely losing his Essence, Qi, and Spirit.
"Second Uncle, Second Aunt, your family takes four acres, our family takes one acre. Is this distribution reasonable?"
Lin Chen looked at Second Uncle, who nodded. Second Aunt was feeling a bit better now and said while sobbing, "Chen'Er, you decide."
"Father, Mother..."
"No need to ask. Mother agrees, just do as you said, Chen'Er." Mrs. Lin directly responded.
Lin Chen looked at the burly man, "Fifteen taels, come again tomorrow to collect it."
The leader of the burly men replied in a muffled voice, "Alright, we'll come back tomorrow."
Like hell they would!
He wouldn't come even if it would kill him tomorrow—he'd let others come instead.
The burly man left, and the village head looked at Lin Chen and said, "Little Chen, let's go and welcome the people from the Martial Hall."
"Alright." Lin Chen nodded, then turned to Second Uncle, "Second Uncle, you head to town to invite a doctor. First, let the doctor know about Brother Hui's situation, have them bring the necessary medicine, and don't skimp on the expense."
Usually, when villagers go to town to see a doctor, the doctor prescribes medicine, and then the villagers go to the pharmacy to get it. Of course, the doctor can also bring the medicine, but it will be more expensive.
Second Uncle hurriedly left, while Second Aunt and Mrs. Lin supported Lin Hui as they walked home, sighing along the way, "One still needs to learn martial arts. Look at how glorious Chen'Er is. Sister-in-law... you will be enjoying a good life in the future."
"How can I enjoy that? Now that Chen'Er is learning martial arts, it will probably cost even more money, and as a mother, I still need to save money for Liang'Er to get a wife. I won't be like some people, showing favoritism."
"With Chen'Er as a brother, Liang'Er shouldn't worry about finding a wife. Many girls would probably want to marry without any dowry."
Second Aunt flattered, and Mrs. Lin smiled, her crow's feet stretching long. Several village women followed, saying pleasing words.
Lin Chen and his father, along with the village chief, were heading toward the approaching congratulatory team.
In front of the ancestral home, only the grandfather, eldest uncle, and eldest aunt remained.
"Dad." The eldest aunt looked pitifully at the grandfather.
The grandfather shook his head, looking desolate, "Everything is self-inflicted. I'm old and won't manage things anymore."
The eldest aunt saw Grandfather turn and hunch his way back into the house, feeling somewhat unwilling, she said to the eldest uncle beside her, "What about the land..."
"Enough." The eldest uncle suddenly glared at the eldest aunt, "Chen'Er was right. To let Lin Ming learn martial arts, we really wronged the second and youngest. Now that Ming'Er has trained his Essence Qi, he should walk his path alone. I, as a father, can't help him anymore."
"Lin Hai, what do you mean? Now you're talking about brotherly feelings? Are you trying to be a good uncle because you think your nephew is going to succeed? When Dad didn't give money to Lin Chen, you didn't oppose it."
"What do you know as a woman!"
"I don't understand? If I hadn't spoken well of you to Dad every day, taking care of him more attentively than my own father, would Dad have given so much money to Ming'Er?"
...
...
The quarrel between the eldest uncle and aunt was unknown to Lin Chen, and even if he knew, he wouldn't care.
At the moment, he was entertaining the congratulatory team from the Martial Hall.
What Lin Chen didn't expect was that the leader was Steward Zhang, and from his private conversation, he learned this was arranged by Instructor Yu.
Such a congratulatory ceremony was not done in the past.
Unless he entered the Martial Hall and won a place in the big competition, only then would the Martial Hall send someone to congratulate, and the Martial Hall would also send people with them.
Lin Chen simply thought about it and understood why Instructor Yu did this.
He had told Instructor Yu about his family's situation, so Instructor Yu was giving him a chance to make a comeback.
Steward Zhang and the team sat in Lin Chen's home for a while; as the inner room was not big, villagers directly moved tables and chairs from their own homes to the Lin family courtyard.
Seeing this, other villagers quickly reacted, bringing fruits and cakes from their homes all at once.
This was an excellent opportunity to curry favor with the Lin family.
Everyone knew that from today on, the Lin family was destined to soar.
Steward Zhang sat in the courtyard for nearly half an hour, praising Lin Chen's performance in the Martial Hall to the skies, causing the villagers in the courtyard and those listening around to exclaim repeatedly.
Lin Chen listened and secretly found it amusing. Steward Zhang had a talent for storytelling. His relatively uneventful life in the Martial Hall became a dramatic story in Steward Zhang's mouth—however he twisted it, it ended up boasting him quite impressively.
After completing the boasting task, Steward Zhang took his leave, yet the villagers were still not fully satisfied.
"Chen has won first place in the Martial Hall, which is an incredible event for our village. I suggest we hold a banquet tomorrow..." the village chief said with a smile.
"Village chief, this might be too extravagant; I haven't even entered the Martial Hall yet."
Lin Chen frowned. He hadn't considered holding a banquet—it would be costly, after all.
But Father Lin and Mrs. Lin's eyes lit up. For parents, there's nothing more gratifying than seeing their children succeed, which brings them pride.
Holding a banquet would let the entire village, possibly others too, know their son trained his Essence Qi and was first in the Martial Hall.
"Chen, this is not for you to worry about; it's our village's tradition. I'll personally handle it for you," the village chief said.
Upon hearing this, Lin Chen realized the village would cover the banquet's costs. Seeing the expectant look in his parents' eyes, he nodded and agreed.
"Alright, those wanting to see the excitement can do so at tomorrow's banquet. For now, everyone should go home."
The village chief dispersed the villagers and then whispered a few words to Lin Chen before leaving. Watching the village chief depart, Lin Chen fell into thought.
"Chen'Er, did the village chief mention something? If it's difficult, we can cancel the banquet. I'll talk to the village chief," Father Lin asked, worried seeing his son standing still.
"Dad, the village chief mentioned a good thing related to Scholar Jiang."